Global Reporting Initiative

ESG
:   
Frameworks and Standards
March 13, 2023

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an independent international organization that provides a widely used framework for sustainability reporting. GRI's mission is to help businesses, governments, and other organizations understand and communicate their sustainability impacts.

The GRI framework sets out principles and guidelines for reporting on economic, environmental, and social performance. It helps organizations measure and report their sustainability efforts, enabling stakeholders to assess their impacts and progress over time.

Key features of the GRI framework include:

  1. Reporting Principles: GRI emphasizes the principles of materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context, and completeness to guide the reporting process.
  2. Reporting Guidelines: GRI offers comprehensive reporting guidelines that cover various aspects of sustainability, including economic performance, environmental impacts, social issues, governance, and more. The guidelines help organizations identify relevant topics, set targets, and report on performance indicators.
  3. GRI Standards: GRI has developed a set of standards that provide specific guidance on reporting topics such as greenhouse gas emissions, water use, human rights, labor practices, and more. These standards enable organizations to report in a consistent and comparable manner.
  4. Materiality Assessment: GRI emphasizes the importance of materiality, which involves identifying and prioritizing sustainability issues that are significant to an organization and its stakeholders. Materiality assessments help organizations focus their reporting efforts on the most relevant topics.
  5. Stakeholder Engagement: GRI encourages organizations to engage with their stakeholders throughout the reporting process. This includes identifying stakeholders, understanding their concerns, and involving them in decision-making and reporting activities.
  6. Assurance and Verification: GRI encourages organizations to seek external assurance or verification of their sustainability reports to enhance credibility and trust.

By following the GRI framework, organizations can improve their sustainability reporting practices, promote transparency, and provide stakeholders with valuable information on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) is responsible for setting globally accepted standards for sustainability reporting. The GSSB operates under a Terms of Reference to oversee the development of the GRI Standards according to a formally defined due process.

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